Backlash
by oh-demoted-short-one
Summary: No one ever saw Megatron immediately after he killed Optimus. How does one react after taking the life of a brother? Those bonds are supposed to last forever.


_AN: This scene takes place during Bayverse RoTF, after Megatron kills Prime- a little bit that we didn't get a chance to see concerning Megatron's reaction to Optimus' death._

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Backlash

_By Oh_Demoted_Short_One and those_painted_wings_

Megatron was behaving strangely, and Starscream was confused.

Not that he wasn't often confused – the state occurred as frequently for him as for any other being. Usually, however, the feeling would abate when confronted with the obviously superior power of his own mind. But this was not one of those simple problems. This was not an uncharacteristic behavior coming from someone ultimately insignificant, like a Constructicon or a medic. This was not something Starscream could either ignore or put reason to.

Megatron was kneeling. Even more concerning, he was making _emotive sounds_, not of rage or righteous fury. He sounded almost… pained. Like something had been torn away from him.

Ultimately, Starscream might have chosen to overlook the brief sign of weakness, even coming from Megatron, had there been any obvious and legitimate cause for it. But in this case, he found it entirely inappropriate and had no qualms about saying so.

"Whatever _this _is," he snapped, "get over it. We've… You've," he hastily corrected, "won a great achievement, but it won't last long if you sulk over how inglorious it was or some slag like that." He crossed his servos in front of his cockpit, half-defensive, half-self-assured, and half-contemptuous as ever. And wasn't it just like Starscream, to be 150% of a mech?

Usually even Starscream would have hesitated to be this abrasive with Megatron, who was unpredictable at best and a triggered proximity charge at worst, but plans were in motion and time was wasting. Without energon the hatchlings would wither away, and where would his grand future army be?

As if just realizing his presence, Megatron looked up at him with a snap that looked positively painful on the neck struts. The expression on his face had Starscream taking an uneasy step backwards, but the abandoned warehouse in which they currently sheltered had nothing by way of cover for a jet-sized transformer. Megatron snarled something unintelligible in a form of Cybertronian that even Starscream didn't know, and before the Seeker could move more than a few more inches away, he was being thrown to the ground, many tens of tons of angry warlord forcing him into the small crater made by the force of his impact.

One viciously clawed servo pressed hard upon Starscream's chest, his wings jammed uncomfortably against the hard cement floor. Up close, Megatron looked worse than Starscream had previously thought, with a snarl twisting his faceplates and a number of small wounds in the form of scratches and punctures covering the armor over his spark. Some were deep enough to be slowly dribbling bits of bright blue energon, which spattered to the ground with soft sounds that seemed magnified by the heaving of both their systems.

"How would you like me to find those pretty little trine members of yours and rip them apart piece by piece in front of you, hmm?" Megatron's tone would have been lighthearted if it hadn't been belied by the way he pushed his full weight down on Starscream's chest.

"My Lord! I – gah – I don't understand!" The patterns of groveling and denial were easy to fall back into, despite eons without practice.

"Imagine it, Starscream. Imagine them being torn away from you." Megatron's voice shifted again, taking on a lilting, mesmerizing tone that caught at Starscream's imagination. This was the same voice that had driven millions to follow in its owner's wake, and Starscream was no more immune to its spell now than he had been millennia ago.

"First, the bond stretches, as if they are merely far away. But the distance grows, as if they are racing away from you: solar systems, then star clusters, then entire galaxies between you. It begins to tear, ripping oh-so-slowly apart, and every instant is a fresh agony and a renewed horror. Then it breaks, and your own spark reaches out to catch its receding tendrils, just in time to receive the backlash of emptiness that is the void between all living things."

The warlord silenced for a moment, still pinning Starscream to the ground. His claws scraped over the armor protecting the Seeker's spark as he concluded, "Can you imagine that, " he stopped to purr sadistically, "Starscream?"

Starscream could, in fact, imagine that in frighteningly vivid detail. He had experienced the breaking of a bond once before – a small bond, the product of long association rather than spark-to-spark contact. The thought of going through the same thing, only magnified by the intensity of the trine-bond…

He shuddered, and the claw Megatron had been trailing over Starscream's canopy went awry, skewing a jagged scratch down the entire length of the glass with a squeal like the death of a cyberfox. Megatron smiled cruelly and tugged his claws out of the groove. The sensation sent another shocked tremble through Starscream's frame, providing Megatron with more than enough reason to laugh maliciously at him.

"Of… of course, my Lord. I understand, truly. Pardon my insolence!"

"Then know this. Once, Optimus Prime was my true brother, as close as any trinemate. And though the bond between us has since decayed, its absence is still enough to feel the effects."

The realization hit Starscream like a blow from a triplechanger. Before, despite his penitent words, the reason behind his leader's impromptu speech had been hidden from him. Now, with the thought of his trinemate's deaths fresh in his mind, he felt almost ashamed of himself. To lose any bond, especially a brother-bond – even an estranged brother – was a terrible thing. To lose it by violence was an abomination.

And Megatron had severed it by his own hand, knowing what awaited him. Starscream was reluctantly admirous. Here was a true remnant of the mech he had once pledged his eternal service to. Here was a strength and ruthlessness that could drive their kind to a new age...

All at once Megatron pulled away from him, and the space around him emptying so suddenly made Starscream acutely aware of his surroundings for a moment. He rolled himself out of the dent in the floor and got stiffly to his peds. There was no other living thing around – not human, not machine, and Megatron was now all the way across the warehouse. For such a large mech, he moved very quickly. Taking a tentative step forward, Starscream watched his leader carefully.

"Go, Starscream. Be gone from this place. I will return to the Nemesis when I am ready."

"Yes, my Lord," said Starscream with an entirely unironic bow, and left as swiftly as possible.

This changed none of his plans. But it might be enough for him to designate one of the hatchlings in memorium… Not that Megatron would ever know of such a namesake. Starscream would be certain his 'fearless leader' was long since offlined before such a thing occurred. He would see it done by his own hand, if all went well.

Before Starscream transformed, he pressed his hand over the scratches on his chest. By the size of Megatron's hand, they were too far apart for him to touch them all at once. None of the marks went through his plating, Megatron's strength restrained even under the influence of anger. Beneath the layers of shielding, his spark pulsed harshly, the trinemate bonds stretched, reassuringly strong despite the distance between members.

_We are here, Starscream. We are coming._


End file.
